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Wilhelm Klink
Colonel Wilhelm Klink is one of the three main fictional characters who appeared in the 1960s American television sitcom, Hogan's Heroes. He was played by Emmy Award-winning actor, Werner Klemperer. History Colonel Wilhelm Klink is born in Leipzig, Germany, most likely in the 1890s. According to the sixth season episode "Gypsy," he is a Taurus (born April or May). He supposedly comes from a 500 years old Junkers family, with both his grandfather and father serving in the Army. His only known sibling is a brother named Wolfgang. Klink, while working at his father's store, graduates from the gymnasium 43rd in his class. After failing the entrance exams for the Law, Medicine and Bookkeeping, he accepts an appointment to the military academy at Potsdam, which is attained for him by his uncle who is the barber for the mayor. He graduates from the academy the last in his class, and with a dueling scar somewhere on his body given to him by General Hans Stofle. Start of his Military Career He serves in the First World War, first in the Army, and later in the newly formed Luftwaffe. During his war service, he wins the Pour le Mérite and Iron Cross, although the only reference made to his war service is that he crashs a plane during a training flight, injuring his passenger, the Blue Baron, on August 4, 1917. After the war, he stays in the size restricted Army of Weimar Germany. Post-Great War/Pre-World War II There is not much information about what Klink did during the period between World Wars, other than that about 1922 he becomes a Colonel, a rank he would still hold when he is made Kommandant of Stalag 13, thanks in part to him having an efficiency rating just a few points above miserable. Both before and after the Nazis come to power in Germany, Klink serves in the Army as a bumbling self-serving, self-centered bureaucrat who always hopes to become a General, like the rest of his military class. When the Luftwaffe is reformed, he rejoins it. Klink would be continuously chosen by the Luftwaffe to do its broadcasts because of his resonance, projection and "incredible" diction. Just before the start of World War II, he has the honor of meeting the Führer at a rally in Munich, but when the war itself starts, he is in Berlin. World War II Klink was a member of the 401st Bomber Group and piloted a Heinkel He-111E bomber. He was nicknamed "the Iron Eagle" by his squadron mates. He was involved in both air and ground combat, the nature of which is never revealed in the series, but was meritorious enough to earn him a Ground Combat Badge and an eagle (spange) on his Iron Cross. He was involved in the Second Battle of Verdun, and it was there that he was briefly reunited with the Blue Baron. Not long after this, his eyesight apparently deteriorated in his left eye, which meant he could never fly a Heinkel again. After being grounded, he worked for a short time as a tower dispatcher at an airfield near Stuttgart. Not long after that, he is reassigned to Stalag 13 as its Kommandant. After being made Kommandant of the camp, he turns it into the toughest camp in all of Germany, with not one successful escape attempt. However, Klink has no idea that there is actually under the camp a series of tunnels which are being used by Colonel Hogan, the camp's senior POW, and his men to run an anti-Nazi organization which specializes in sabotage, spying and rescuing Allied airmen who they would send back to England, since Klink is so easily manipulated by them. In fact, several times, they have to make sure that Klink would not be transferred elsewhere, since that would eventually lead to the exposure of their operation. Although he sometimes acts as if he is afraid of flying, Klink dreams of once again flying Heinkels. Klink both hates and fears the local Gestapo agent, Major Hochstetter and he is something of an old friend of his commanding officer, Army General Burkhalter, though his is mainly because Klink desperately wants to stay of the general's good side. But, he also has a major nightmare of actually marrying the general's porcine sister, Gertrude Linkmeyer. In fact, he has threatened to have Hogan shot for several times proposing such a fate, and has assured him that no court-martial in the world would ever find him guilty for doing it. He would much prefer a romance with either of his secretaries. Klink's vanity makes often him an easy mark for Hogan, who continually massages the Kommandant's massive ego to manipulate his decisions in ways which will benefit the prisoners. Post-World War II Nothing is known about Klink's final fate. It is assumed that he is captured by the Allies. Links * Robert Hogan * Hans Schultz * General Albert Burkhalter Klink, Wilhem Klink, Wilhelm